Madeleine K. Albright

Madeleine Korbel Albright, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former Secretary of State. She is reputed to be a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and she is a member of the Board at the Aspen Institute.


 * Board of Overseers, International Rescue Committee
 * Member, International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
 * Chair, Task Force In Support of Arab Democracy
 * Director, Center for a New American Security
 * Former Director, Center for National Policy
 * Advisory Board, Truman National Security Project
 * International Board, International Centre for Democratic Transition (accessed Sept 07)
 * Leadership Council, Initiative for Global Development
 * Leadership Group, U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project
 * Honorary Member, Academy of Political Science
 * Honorary Chair, World Justice Project
 * Honorary Chair, U.S.-Palestinian Partnership
 * Honorary Director, VisionSpring
 * National Honorary Advisory Council, Council for America's First Freedom

According to Albright's USIA Biography:

Madeleine Korbel Albright was nominated by President Clinton on December 5, 1996 as Secretary of State. After being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she was sworn in as the 64th Secretary of State on January 23, 1997. Secretary Albright is the first female secretary of state and the highest ranking woman in the U.S. government.

Prior to her appointment, Secretary Albright served as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations (presenting her credentials at the UN on February 6, 1993) and as a member of President William Jefferson Clinton's Cabinet and National Security Council.

Secretary Albright formerly was the President of the Center for National Policy. The Center is a non-profit research organization formed in 1981 by representatives from government, industry, labor and education. Its mandate is to promote the study and discussion of domestic and international issues.

As a Research Professor of International Affairs and Director of Women in Foreign Service Program at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, Russian foreign policy, and Central and Eastern European politics, and was responsible for developing and implementing programs designed to enhance women's professional opportunities in international affairs.

From 1981 to 1982, Secretary Albright was awarded a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian following an international competition in which she wrote about the role of the press in political changes in Poland during the early 1980's.

She also served as a Senior Fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, conducting research in developments and trends in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

From 1978-1981, Secretary Albright was a staff member on the National Security Council, as well as a White House staff member, where she was responsible for foreign policy legislation. From 1976-1978, she served as Chief Legislative Assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie.

Awarded a B.A. from Wellesley College with honors in Political Science, she studied at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, received a Certificate from the Russian Institute at Columbia University, and her Masters and Doctorate from Columbia University's Department of Public Law and Government.

Secretary Albright is fluent in French and Czech, with good speaking and reading abilities in Russian and Polish.

Selected writings include Poland, the Role of the Press in Political Change (New York: Praeger with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, Washington D.C. 1983); The Role of the Press in Political Change: Czechoslovakia 1968 (Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University 1976); and The Soviet Diplomatic Service: Profile of an Elite (Master's Thesis, Columbia University 1968). --- Albright is a Principal in her firm the Albright Group, LLC:

"Madeleine Albright served as the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. She was the first woman Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States government. As Secretary, Dr. Albright reinforced America's alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade and business, labor and environmental standards abroad. Serving as a member of the President's Cabinet and National Security Council for eight years, Dr. Albright was the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997. Dr. Albright is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown [University] School of Foreign Service and the first Distinguished Scholar of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Business School. Dr. Albright is the Chairman of The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and also serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange."

Chronology of Activities

 * 1976-78: Chief Legislative Assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie.
 * 1978: staff member on National Security Council.
 * 1987: campaigns for presidential candidate Michael Dukakis
 * 1992: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
 * 12 May 1996: Lesley Stahl at 60 Minutes interview, speaking of US sanctions against Iraq:
 * Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And -- and you know, is the price worth it?"
 * Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it."


 * 1996: becomes U.S. Secretary of State under President William Jefferson Clinton.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * foreign service
 * Pew Global Attitudes Project
 * Pulse of Europe
 * Albright Group, LLC